I.

1838.

June.

PART unpopular monarch, to force him upon a people, democratic from feeling customs and institutions; poor, hardy, courageous, and despising the religion of the strangers who thus sought to thrust upon them this hateful Prince, bearing this recent stigma; that to recover his crown, he, false to the national honour and independence, had resigned a third of the tribes to their inveterate enemies the Seiks. Sir John Hobhouse, in one of those turgid speeches upon this enterprise, which shocked the common sense of England, affirmed that the Bolan pass was chosen because Shah Sooja's adherents were in that quarter. A puerile reason, but a proof that the King was not desired by the nation.

Under the weight of this policy, Affghanistan, that great military point, was to be made by a General of no repute as a commander, with troops for the most part physically unfitted to sustain the climate; with unsafe communications of enormous length; without moral or political resources opened to him; but marching straight forward in the wild hope that the King, a weak arrogant man, would not only reconstitute a great nation which had already fallen to pieces in his hands, but would form of it a bulwark for India against Persia and the other nations of Central Asia, those nations being egged on and supported by Russia! Surely the genius and military sagacity of the Duke of Wellington were not needed here, to predict" that the troops would force their way through a wild disunited people, only to find the commencement of their difficulties."

The passage through Scinde and the Bolan pass nearly wrecked the army. It is said Lord Keane

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CHAP.

II.

lost many hundred soldiers and thousands of camp followers, and forty thousand camels, in that 1838. march: and that want of promptness and combina- June. tion amongst the tribes alone enabled him to reach Candahar; that at Ghuzni, his progress would have terminated but for the engineer Thomson's ready genius, and the fiery courage of Colonel Dennie, who, breaking through the only weak part of the barbarian's defence, won a peerage for their General. Shah Sooja thus regained his throne, and fools gaped at him while the Affghan men of spirit pondered revenge. For a time success seemed to attend the unjust aggression, the brilliant illrequited Dennie sustained it by his talents; but when he and the intrepid Sale marched to Jellallabad, error succeeded error, not unaccompanied by crime, with fearful rapidity, until an entire destruction of the invaders closed "the tragic Harliquinade." The system of making smart young men, who could speak Persian, political agents, and supposing them Generals and Statesmen, failed. England lost an army by the experiment. Lord Auckland gained a new coronet. But clotted and stiff with the blood of British soldiers shed in an unjust war it must be uneasy to wear.

PART

1.

June.

CHAPTER III.

For the Affghan invasion the summary given in the foregoing chapter must suffice generally; but 1888. the peculiar negotiations connected with it, by which Scinde was inextricably entangled with the Anglo-Indian Government, shall now be developed, and the censures passed on Lord Auckland's policy justified by facts, undeniable as being extracted from the official correspondence laid before Parlia

ment.

His tripartite treaty bears date June, 1838. In July. July a copy was sent to Colonel Pottinger, preparatory to a new course of negotiation with the Ameers, to be modelled on that which led to the treaty of two Articles, concluded only two months before, in virtue of which he was now Political Agent for Scinde. This time, however, the project was more artfully conducted. Shah Sooja recognised as king, and a contracting person in the tripartite treaty, placed at the head of an army raised paid and officered by the Anglo-Indian Government, was thrust forward as an independent sovereign instead of the miserable tool he was. By the tripartite treaty he agreed to relinquish all claim to supremacy and tribute from Scinde, on condition of receiving a large sum of money, the amount to be determined under the mediation of the Anglo-Indian Government, which thus constituted itself umpire in an old quarrel, revived by

1838.

July.

itself to suit its own projects, without the knowledge CHAP. of the party most interested. But war is costly. The king's pretended national army was to be paid, the Ameers had treasure, and this plan, if it failed to reach their gold, would certainly lay the foundation of other demands more important. Colonel Pottinger's instructions, shamelessly explicit, were in substance as follows:

mentary

Scinde,

“Tell the Ameers, a crisis menacing British Parlia"India has arrived. The Western Powers have Papers on "combined to work evil. The Governor-General No. 9. "has projected a counter-combination. "on his friends for aid. The King has ancient "claims on Scinde; but he

66

He calls

will accept money in 66 discharge of them, and makes the Governor"General arbitrator of the amount. Great is the "benefit thus conferred on the Ameers. They will gain undisturbed possession of their territory and immunity from farther claims. Warm is the "Governor-General's friendship for the Ameers, "and in return he demands ostensible proof of "their attachment. The King will arrive at Shikarpoor in November; he will be supported by a British army. The Ameers must, therefore, agree to pay him the money or abide the consequences, one of which will be, to take military possession of their town and district of ShikarMeanwhile, the article of the former treaty which forbids the transmission of military "stores up the Indus must be suspended." And yet, to maintain this article intact had been the very ground of the interference with Runjeet Sing in the former negotiation!

66

66

poor.

So far all was founded in love and friendship for the Ameers; but the Persians were besieging Herat,

Parlia

papers on Scinde.

and, though no war had been declared, and England was by treaty bound not to interfere between Persia and the Affghans, the Persians were designated as opponents of the Governor-General's projects, and the Ameers were suspected of having formed engagements with them. If so, it was to be construed as an act of hostility, and a British army from Bombay would immediately enter their capital. Yet, if any inferior Ameer popular in Scinde, was inclined to side with the British, he was to be separately supported and advanced to power. The amount of the King's money claim was left undetermined, but it was significantly observed, "the Ameers must be wealthy."

Now, the chief Ameer of Hyderabad, Noor Mohamed, had indeed written to the Persian, yet more, as Colonel Pottinger judged, from religious zeal than political views; for the Ameer was a "Shea," or believer in Ali, as the Persians are; whereas Sobdar, the person contemplated by the instructions as likely to side with the British, was a" Soonee," or believer in Omar. But there was a Persian agent hovering about Hyderabad, and there is little doubt that an intercourse unfriendly to British interests was maintained. Nor can this excite wonder. The previous negotiations of Colonel Pottinger had too plainly pointed out the ultimate object of Lord Auckland, to leave the Ameer in doubt of his fate from the friendship of the Governor-General. He had a right to look for support

elsewhere.

Colonel Pottinger, it might be designing a covert mentary rebuke while he obeyed orders, assured Lord Auckland, he would not fail to tell the Ameers, the day they connected themselves with any other

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